Is EAV trying to be a little ethnic grub hood with all these Buford Hwy-esque style joints popping up? I don't know but you got Soba, Octopus, We Suki Suki aka "Buford HWY EAV" so far and... Not much else. I guess EAV's got some work to do before becoming the next ethnic destination. But for what it's worth, it's a start I guess. And now comes a pretty much quiet but yet somewhat long awaited opening of Gaja... I had doubts about a Korean joint opening in this area. Will it stick and do well in EAV? Korean food has been gaining some assimilation in the mainstream but it has only scratched the surface with kimchi this and bulgogi that. Let's face it, the mass sheeple do not know shit about Asian grub, let alone Korean. If this place can get some traction with the menu and the people in this hood, this could be a break through... Let's go fill the pouch with some hipster gook vittles... And don't forget to BYOB.
Anchovy & Peanut Brittle. I know what y'all are saying... WTF is that lint ball you ask? It's cotton candy with anchovies inside. Sprinkle that shit with the peanut brittle dust and shove it in your piehole. It's totally retarded but I liked it. The sweetness to salty contrast and the crumbled peanuts for texture.
Dongjip, chicken gizzards & hearts. The quickest way to the pouch's stomach is through cheekan hearts... And gizzards. I love these offal things. Gizzards have that wonderful cartilage crunch and the hearts that foamy stress ball bounce inside your face gash. The house made rice chips reminded me of my childhood fav, Munchos... Which were tasty, too.
Pajeon "American Carnival Style", scallion fritter cake. You can dump anything in batter and fry da shit outta it and it will be good... Hence, this specimen. This is like an Asian bloomin' onion with onion powder sugar on top. Just tear this clumpy creasture apart, dip it in the Corean sauce and enjoy. Yeehaw.
Bibim Mandu, duck and barley pan fried dumplings. I love taking dumps in my mouth and these were long and meaty. These will be a hit with the roundeyes.
Jokbal, pig trotter. These will prolly NOT be a hit with the roundeyes. But it sure does look purdy. I love pig trotter... Just wrap it all up and jam it in your hole. Good stuff.
Spam & Egg. I love this. House made spam and tamagoyaki style egg cake thingers. This was pretty damn good.
Ddeokbooki, house made nori rice cake and sous vide egg. This could be either stuff scraped off from a flat top or one of the 25 courses at Alinea. I love it that they dump this mess all over a sheet pan. The nori rice cake nuggets were real nice and the sous vide egg yolk looked soft boiled but it was solid and toothy. Basically, just mix all this up together in the gochujang sauce and spoon it down. They say it's spicy but it's not. You will be ok eating this, hipsters.
DAK, Korean style fried boneless chicken thigh. Boneless? C'mon, can it be good without the bones... Damn straight it could be if it was executed effectively. The gochujang hot sauce gave it a little heat but it's not spicy at all. The tofu ranch is different and helped cooled it down a bit but it really didn't need it since it wasn't spicy at all. The kimchi was nice, the bean sprouts and salad were just ok.
Dubu, roasted tofu with American cheese. Say what? American cheese on top of tofu? Sounds like one of Roy Choi's instant ramen with cheese deal a meals. This is gonna be really interesting or really disgusting... Turns out, it was really tasty. The gooey melted cheese with the soft tofu worked, don't ask me how but it does. The banchan were the same.
Dwaeji Bulgogi, spicy pork belly. Who doesn't like pork belly... Even though, this other white meat has disappeared from most whitie menus around town in the last couple of years, Corean joints will still serve the shit outta some pork belly all year round. I am totally down with that shit. It was good and also had a sample of some thinly sliced Galbi on the side. But it needs to be spicier, no, a lot more spicier.
At first glance, I thought this concept may be too adventurous for the EAV hood but since Octopus, Soba and Suki are doing pretty well (eventho Soba and Suki are ultra Americanized), this joint may have a decent shot at introducing the filthy hipsters to some "more" authentic Asian grubbery in this part of town. Is it traditional Korean grub? Far from it. The food isn't gonna change your life at this point. Don't get me wrong, it's playful and creative but it needs some tweaking here and there and is by no means perfected yet. It needs to find that perfect balance of Korean and approachability in this hood. So, it's basically in the experimental stage at this point. But I do see a lot of changes down the road for this menu but the foundation is there with the talent in the kitchen. They just need that one or two "hit" dish and the rest will follow. They don't serve booze yet, so that is also a big disadvantage for them with the competition. Since, Octopus dominates the late night grub and drink scene around here, it will take awhile and a lot of work before Gaja even catches up. But I think they will eventually and become a valued addition to this melting pot hood... Shit, let's hope so because I like what this place is doing so far.
491-A Flat Shoals Ave. SE
Atlanta, GA 30316
404-835-2126
http://gajaeav.com/
1 comment:
I just wanted to tell you how much I look forward to each of your reviews. You are the only reviewer I regularly read who is just as willing to say when a dish or place displeases you as when a dish or place pleases you. Most reviewers are so unrelentingly positive they read like PR departments - and thus entirely fail at their purpose, to help the reader decide whether to go there.
Post a Comment